My concern is for the businesses immediately surrounding the new location that provide many of the services that a Walmart also provides. Gas stations, Disount stores, auto service centers, Kroger supermarket. Not sure that what may be gained from a new Walmart would balance the LOSS by the existing merchants. Southeast Atlanta is growing Family Dollars like mushrooms. Stone Mountain/Decatur seems to be developing the same problem with Walmarts. I love Walmart, but we dont need one on every corner.
Said this on 9/9/12 At 11:50 am
"I think anything that brings jobs to Memorial Drive and increases traffic to Memorial Drive is good for the corridor," Goebeler said.
Nick Goebeler, head of the Memorial Drive Merchants Association, said there are many good reasons to support Walmart's new store.
"Here is an opportunity," Baker said. "The community can rally behind it. Or you have the choice that you can show up at that meeting and say 'we don't want it.'"
Wilkins said the company has applied for a zoning variance with DeKalb County to ensure the proper parking ratio for the store. Walmart is planning to hold community meetings, yet to be announced, to present its plans to residents.
Andrew Baker, the county's interim director for planning and sustainability, said he hopes the store will spur more renovations and investments along Memorial Drive.
"It's going to bring jobs to our community," Sutton said. "It's going to improve the tax base and it's an opportunity to direct the traffic down Memorial Drive."
Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton said the presence of the new Walmart should attract other businesses to the area.
"We've had a lot of positive response so far from the community," Wilkins said.
"I believe we're serving a different market," Wilkins said of the 5-mile distance between the two stores. "It's an opportunity to serve that customer in that market.
The Decatur Walmart, which is approximately 29,000 square feet larger than the proposed store, opened in March 2008 at the site of the old Avondale Mall.
The store, which would be the second Walmart on Memorial Drive, would create approximately 300 jobs, mostly fulltime, and "help revitalize the community by bringing additional retail back into the community," Wilkins said.
"We are constantly looking for new ways to service the customer," said Glenn Wilkins, a senior manager of public affairs and governmental relations for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
With a 2013 projected opening, plans call for the 148,000-square-foot store to have a grocery department, pharmacy and garden center. The store will not contain a gas station or tire/lube center.
A defunct Subaru car dealership near the corner of Memorial Drive and Hairston Road is the proposed site of a new Walmart in DeKalb County.
An old car dealership near the corner of Memorial Drive and North Hairston Road is the proposed site of a second Walmart store on Memorial Drive. The store, which will be 29,000 square feet smaller than the Decatur Walmart, is expected to open in 2013. Photo by Andrew Cauthen
Second Walmart planned for Memorial Drive
Second Walmart planned for Memorial Drive
Second Walmart planned for Memorial Drive
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